If it’s cool and interesting, I’ll use it!

Don’t get stuck in a materials rut!

Here are some resin and brass "stones" I created using vintage kimono silk for a mixed-media bracelet.

Originally published 2-11-2011

Some people think I have little regions of snobbery in my artistic processes. It's just not true. I can easily explain my thinking behind what I put with what -- glass and plastics with base metals, stone and non-manufactured natural materials with silver -- it is pure and simple science. I have a very scientific mind and I classify, analyze, sort and process everything into a sort of taxonomic heirarchy of materials. Some things deserve to be put with other things because of their fundamental or elemental way of being.

I have used everything from plastic to diamonds in my work. I have beads, stones, buttons, fabric, fibers, art supplies, paper, plastic, ceramic, metal and wood in my studio at all times. I just put those things together according to my own sort of Darwinian system of organization. I am a materialsmith, and I love to investigate everything with an eye for creating assemblages of things that have a reason to be together. My mind sets a problem, I create a reason for solving it in a specific way, and then I let those materials tell me why they belong together. If the things I choose look good -- and solve the problem I set for myself -- I'll use anything. Sometimes I am sucessful in making a satisfying object that speaks on several levels, both to me and others. That is the job of art.

Todays tip: Don't mix resin with a wooden stir stick because wood tends to create an excess of air bubbles you'll have to pop once they rise to the surface of your piece.